Removal of HCC editions blasted

Monday

Apr 29, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Hutchinson Community College's debate and forensics coach thought no news was better than bad news.

That judgment put him in the news, to his discomfort.

HCC was about to play host for the first time to the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament in early April. And the April 5 issue of HCC's The Hutchinson Collegian carried a Page 3 story about the earlier theft of a drawing of a dragon from Lockman Hall. A University of Nebraska-Lincoln forensics student stole it while on campus in February for a competition.

HCC debate and forensics coach Travis Roberts directed some students on his team to collect the free Collegian newspapers from racks, so the papers could be hidden while the national tournament was on campus.

The incident outraged The Collegian's adviser and staff.

It showed "obvious disrespect for the First Amendment," wrote editor-in-chief Allison Saffle in a column in the April 26 issue of The Collegian.

"It's covering a theft with a theft," said The Collegian's sports editor, Jessica Green.

It was a "shameful, despicable desecration of the U.S. First Amendment," in the view of Collegian adviser Alan Montgomery.

"Anyone trying to infringe upon or take away the First Amendment rights of any of my journalism students might liken the experience to smacking a hornets' nest with a stick," Montgomery said in a statement.

The Collegian staff reacted to the incident by producing an eight-page issue April 26, instead of the normal six-page issue.

The banner headline declared: "Hijacked."

Saffle wrote the main story describing how forensics students, at the direction of Roberts, stole about a thousand papers from campus racks.

Only about 130 issues designated for HCC satellite campuses escaped the theft, according to Montgomery.

No theft charges were filed, although Collegian reporter Ashlyn King wrote a story about the theft of newspapers at other college campuses that resulted in fines and charges.

Roberts wrote a letter of apology to Collegian staff and Montgomery. He also sat down with them.

However, a story in the latest Collegian by Michael Durbin pointed out that the forensics students did not show up, as the journalists had expected.

Roberts took full responsibility for the theft. He also said he had talked to a couple of attorneys who advised that the forensics students should not attend the session with The Collegian.

"What lawyer is going to advise against an apology?" Saffle asked Monday, as she and other Collegian staff members talked to The News.

Roberts has 14 enrolled students on the team and told The News that "less than half of the group" was involved in rounding up the papers. He has not revealed which students took part.

A work-study HCC student put the papers back in the racks on Monday, April 8.

Montgomery and Collegian staff noted that the job was done haphazardly.

Roberts explained to the journalists that he didn't want tournament judges to read the dragon-drawing theft story in the April 5 Collegian and react negatively toward University of Nebraska contestants.

Montgomery said the Collegian intentionally had "softened" the dragon-theft story because staff realized it would appear when forensics students from all over the country were on campus.

For example, they put "caper" in the headline, instead of the originally planned word choice of "theft."

The Nebraska student who took the drawing was not on that school's tournament team - as part of his punishment. While The Collegian's staff has received no apology from the forensics students, they displayed four letters of apology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln over the stolen dragon art, including one from the student who took the drawing.

The stolen dragon drawing was returned to HCC, albeit with a crease.

HCC President Ed Berger has not intervened in the stolen newspapers incident, which he views as a discussion between Roberts and Montgomery. No formal complaint has been lodged, Berger said.

Roberts wrote in his apology that the "this event will stand as a learning moment" for himself and the team.

"Ultimately with your help, I plan to use this experience as a lesson for myself to be a better defender of our freedom of speech in the future," Roberts wrote to the newspaper staff and Montgomery.

The Collegian's Green said "people love" the "Hijacked" issue.

Saffle, proud of the staff and the "hard-hitting" stories in this latest issue, said people are reading it cover to cover.

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